The Last Seven Years

"Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put and end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Daniel 9:24

We commonly use decades to measure time, but Israel uses septads, or periods of seven years. These septads are often called "weeks".

Many years ago, I found a little book called Daniel's Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. I was just beginning to think of prophecy as a subject to study. So, I read the little book. It was incomprehensible to me. I persisted though. Slowly, I was learning the Bible's way of saying things. Often this is new to us. Years later, I came to love this book on Daniel's great prophecy.

The seventy weeks are foretold in only four verses. These verses, the whole book, are shunned by old-line churches, like the Presbyterians, who believe they have supplanted Israel. But sleeping Israel will be back, and that is what the Seventy Weeks are all about. Therefore Presbyterians and Jews (though Daniel is their prophet) treat this amazing prophecy as Superman does Kryptonite.

At this time it would be appropriate to ask, "So what have all the septads got to do with me?" Then I would have to be honest and say, "Nothing, directly." It was written by a Jew, for the Jews. But God loves his people, don't you?

Plus, when Israel comes back to life, after the church is in heaven, the greatest events in her history will occur. "The prince who is to come" is antichrist. His rule will take place within the last half of the prophecy's seventieth septad. It is foretold in several places as 42 months (Rev. 11:2 and Rev. 13:5), as 1,260 days (Rev. 11:3, and 12:6), and as "a time, times and half a time" in Rev. 12:14.

Daniel's time table mentioned in the book of Revelation? This part is future of our day. This prophecy is well rooted and verifiable in history. The faithful spread palm leaves on the street of Jerusalem to welcome Messiah, based on it. It has been, and will be accurate to the day, based on the lunar calendar. It promised and delivered our Savior to an unbelieving nation.

Sixty nine of the septads are already fulfilled. There is only one septad left. It's starting point will be the signing of a treaty between Israel and antichrist. That will light the fuse to history's biggest explosion.